FORT MEADE, Maryland (AP) — The 35-year prison sentence a U.S. military judge gave Army Pfc. Bradley Manning for sending military and diplomatic secrets to WikiLeaks, the biggest leak in U.S. history, far exceeds the punishments U.S. courts have given to others who disclosed government secrets to media. Here’s a look at some of the other cases:

— John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer, was sentenced in January to 2 1/2 years for giving interviews to ABC News and others, confirming reports that several al-Qaida detainees had been waterboarded, an interrogation technique he considered torture.

— Shamai Leibowitz, a former FBI contract linguist, was sentenced in May 2010 to 20 months in prison for leaking secret documents to a blogger. The New York Times reported that the documents were secret transcripts of conversations caught on FBI wiretaps of the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

— Samuel Morison, a former Navy intelligence analyst, was sentenced in 1985 to two years in prison for giving U.S. spy photos of the first Soviet nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the British magazine Jane’s Defence Weekly. He was pardoned in 2001 by President Bill Clinton.

— Pvt. Henry Vanderwater, a Union soldier during the Civil War, was sentenced in 1863 to three months of hard labor for aiding the enemy by giving an Alexandria, Virginia, newspaper a command roster that was then published.

WKBN 27 First News provides commenting to allow for constructive discussion on the stories we cover. In order to comment here, you acknowledge you have read and agreed to our Terms of Service.
Commenters who violate these terms, including use of vulgar language or racial slurs, will be banned. No links will be permitted.
Please be respectful of the opinions of others. If you see an inappropriate comment, please flag it for our moderators to review.